Is Planetary Resources Already a NASA Contractor? (Yes)

"This project aligns well with our national space policies and goals," NASA spokesman David S. Weaver said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday, adding that as the space agency moves toward sending humans to an asteroid for the first time, "we will certainly look to take advantage of private-sector resources and data."

"The company says it is cash-flow positive, but declined to go into much detail as to where the money is coming from other than saying it does currently have a contract with NASA. They went on to vaguely said the company already has several relationships with other companies and several customers already."

"We were operating under the name of Arkyd Astronautics for the last two years quite honestly because it was not as obvious what we were up to," Anderson told Space News. "If we had been called 'Planetary Resources,' it would have been obvious to people."

Keith's note: But wait, it looks like Arkyd er, I mean, Planetary Resources is already using NASA STTR money to develop its telescope spacecraft. 2011 money to be precise - a total of $124,000. This STTR contract is just starting, how much are the follow-on phases worth? Planetary Resources is claiming to make spacecraft in the "single digit millions". Follow-on STTR money will likely be in the "single digit millions". Why didn't they bother to tell anyone about this today? First they do a switcheroo on their name and purpose - not telling the NASA/JPL asteroid study team what they were really up to. Now they are being less than forthcoming on their existing business relationship with NASA. What else are they not telling us?

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New venture aims to mine near-Earth asteroids, Washington Post\n\n\"This project aligns well with our national space policies and goals,\" NASA spokesman David S. Weaver said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday, adding that as the space agency moves toward sending humans to an asteroid for the first time, \"we will certainly look to take advantage of private-sector resources and data.\"\n\nPlanetary Resources officially kicks off its asteroid mining venture, Venture Beat\n\n\"The company says it is cash-flow positive, but declined to go into much detail as to where the money is coming from other than saying it does currently have a contract with NASA. They went on to vaguely said the company already has several relationships with other companies and several customers already.\"\n\nPlanetary Resources set to begin hunt for asteroids to mine in 18-24 months, Ars Technica\n\n\"NASA really has no involvement in what Planetary Resources is doing, no prior knowledge, and no hardware capable of matching the company's.\"\n\nAsteroid Mining Venture Aims To Lay Foundation with Small, Cheap Space Telescopes, SpaceNews\n\n\"We were operating under the name of Arkyd Astronautics for the last two years quite honestly because it was not as obvious what we were up to,\" Anderson told Space News. \"If we had been called 'Planetary Resources,' it would have been obvious to people.\"\n\nKeith's note: But wait, it looks like Arkyd er, I mean, Planetary Resources is already using NASA STTR money to develop its telescope spacecraft. 2011 money to be precise - a total of \$124,000. This STTR contract is just starting, how much are the follow-on phases worth? Planetary Resources is claiming to make spacecraft in the \"single digit millions\". Follow-on STTR money will likely be in the \"single digit millions\". Why didn't they bother to tell anyone about this today? First they do a switcheroo on their name and purpose - not telling the NASA/JPL asteroid study team what they were really up to. Now they are being less than forthcoming on their existing business relationship with NASA. What else are they not telling us?

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